A recent settlement in a nursing home malpractice wrongful death claim raises questions as to the current state of the law in New Jersey concerning nursing home malpractice. Although the terms of the settled case were confidential, the decedent's family alleged that he was mis-treated while he was a resident in the defendants' nursing home, which resulted in his death. Specifically, the family alleged that the 87 year old fell to the floor when nursing home staff improperly handled his transfer from bed to wheelchair. He developed a blood infection thereafter, due to the staff's improper care of his resulting pressure sores, and the blood infection directly caused his death.

In New Jersey, nursing homes and their staff will be responsible for negligent care of a resident. A large majority of the cases that are filed today allege injuries arising from negligent supervision of the patient, improper bed-to-chair or chair-to-bed transfers of the patient, or improper treatment of pressure sores or bed sores. Through the course of litigation, due to the fact that generally, these claims are filed against licensed individuals such as nurses or patient care assistants, a nursing, medical other health care medical expert will usually be required to establish that a standard of care has been breached.

Nursing homes have their own standards by which their nurses, care assistants and employees must abide. Further, governmental entities such as the Department of Health and Human Services also promulgate regulations by which nursing homes and their staff must abide. Many times, however, discovery in nursing home litigations reveal that the nursing home is understaffed and the professionals working there are unable to meet the requirements of policies and procedures put in place by management or the government regulators. Sadly and unfortunately, it is the patient that ultimately suffers.

Of course, patients who are injured as a result of nursing home malpractice are entitled to the same measure of damages that one would be entitled to in any personal injury or medical malpractice case - past and future pain and suffering, past and future disability and impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life. Given the relative age of the average nursing home patient, however, prospective future damages are generally limited. Thus, the New Jersey Legislature has passed a statute that allows for punitive damages and an award of counsel fees in the event that an attorney can show that the nursing home staff has violated either Federal or State regulations resulting in injuries to a patient.

Accordingly, in the event you suspect that a nursing home staff is mis-treating you or a relative, you should immediately contact an attorney. A skilled attorney will likely alert the appropriate state agency as soon as possible, so that an investigation will be conducted and any and all necessary evidence to establish malpractice will be preserved.